Beyond the stats
Re: "A shocking statistic", (PostBag, Aug 10) & "Ministry seeks to amend law on domestic violence", (BP, Aug 6).
I applaud Khun Namfah's letter addressing the important subject of domestic violence. I do not doubt the statistic Khun Namfah cites that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in Thailand. However, Khun Namfah failed to inform readers that the victims of domestic violence are not only women and children.
The abstract of a 2014 research paper by Martin Fiebert, PhD, California State University, states, "This annotated bibliography describes 343 scholarly investigations (270 empirical studies and 73 reviews) demonstrating that women are as physically aggressive as men (or more) in their relationships with their spouses or opposite-sex partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 440,850 people."
The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance informs that studies across multiple countries support the above finding that women are just as capable of committing domestic violence. It is wrong to ignore male victims or to single out men as perpetrators of domestic violence. While Khun Namfah does not demonise all men and boys as many female campaigners do, invalidating male victims by failing to recognise them is a regrettable omission in an otherwise exemplary letter.
Was justice done?
Re: "New party under siege", (Editorial, Aug 13).
The saga of the fates of some members of the former Move Forward Party (MFP) was well summarised.
The summary brings to mind a dictum laid down by Lord Hewart, the then Chief Justice of England in 1924, and frequently referred to: "It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done."
Elections in chaos
Re: "Iran 'hacks' Trump's campaign", (World, Aug 12).
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that foreign sources wanted to "... sow chaos throughout our Democratic process..."
As an interested observer of many elections, Australian, US and other countries, it would appear that most are chaotic so this is not unusual.
Surely the most chaotic component of the current US election is Donald Trump, and his early morning tweets although the Maga supporters, as shown on TV, also seem chaotic, and maybe deluded.
Elections should be decided on facts, policies, and not personalities.
The price of delay
Re: "Tilapia crisis needs fixing", (BP, Aug 7).
Let's estimate the cost of producing 100 million genetically altered tilapia fry and robust Asian sea bass fry for release in Thai waters to effectively combat the blackchin tilapia invasion.
Including factors such as broodstock, feed, labour, hatchery operations, and prevailing market conditions and basing the estimate on contracting two large hatcheries capable of producing 50 million fries per year, we can estimate the cost at 2 baht per fry, which results in a total cost of 200 million baht.
This is chump change for an agro-titan company or whichever taxpaying fall guys the Department of Fisheries decides to pin their own failures upon this time.
One thing is certain: the longer Thailand must wait for this problem to be rightly addressed, the more difficult, costly, and environmentally destructive the situation will become.